Mr Howlin said he would be "very wary" of using taxpayer's money to bring back measures that inflated property prices during the boom years.

However, the Wexford TD said he was in favour of introducing measures that would make it easier for people buying their first home to access mortgages.

"I would be very wary of going back to old instruments that inflated the cost of housing artificially because too many things we did in the past used taxpayer money to inflate the price of houses and enrich people who wanted to sell," Mr Howlin said in an interview with the Irish Independent.

"Let's find a system where first-time buyers can have access to a mortgage in the first instance, one that's affordable in the second instance, and thirdly have access to a supply of houses, which is one of the priorities we took in the Budget to increase the supply of housing to solve that market lapse at the moment," he added.